There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
The amount of weight saving is minimal when you're talking about a 3.5 - 4.0 inch blade of substantial width and thickness, stainless steel liners, G10 or Micarta handle slabs, etc..
It weakens the blade by removing material at one of the highest stress points - just in front of where the blade meets the stop pin every time you open the blade.
While I appreciate the artistry of some of the knives I'm seeing, to me "form follows function" - an expensive, artistic broken blade is useless. A utilitarian, non-sexy, functioning blade is priceless - when you really need it....
But I'm kind of a rarity, I carry, and use, all the blades I own, on a daily basis. I don't own many folders, but the ones I do have held up in the long term, keep a reasonably good edge, and don't need a grinding wheel to sharpen....
Just my $0.02.